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Morning All,
Some here will know me from other areas of this site and will know that I have been fighting battles with several organisations since I became unemployed last August. Hopefully, I believe I have now secured a well-paid new role which will make things easier. Unfortunately, I am still quite a few weeks away from getting my first pay-packet even if I get the role. This means that I still have to deal with the Vultures that are circling and waiting for their chance to attack.
Lately, I have started receiving threats from Alliance & Leicester wanting to 'recover' the overdraft I have on that account. The letters they have sent me have all been of the nature whereby I cannot respond as they provided telephone numbers of which I could not get past their security due to them 'terminating' my account (though many letters did not even contain a telephone number at all). It culminated this week when they sent a 'final demand' for me to repay £2425.85.
This total is made up completely of bank charges due to my not having any income to pay into the account. When I first informed them that I was unemployed my account was still within the agreed limit. They sympathised at the time and even took some measures due to the circumstances ... or so I thought.
This latest letter threatened legal action if the debt was not repaid within 7 days - they sent the letter the day before Good Friday. With Good Friday and Bank Holiday Monday, the reality was that they had actually only given me two days to respond.
Given that they had backed me into a corner, my reaction in these situations is to always come out fighting. So, I have sent a strongly worded letter back to them AND copied the FOS with my response to Alliance & Leicester. At the end of the day, it may only serve to be a delaying tactic, but I will be damned if I am going to simply roll-over and comply to their wishes - especially as I dispute the level of the bank charges they have levied AND because those charges have come about as a result of their incompetence. Hopefully, my going on the offensive is the last thing they will be expecting and it will catch them somewhat off-guard.
I'll have to wait and see what response they come back with and what the FOS have to say about this matter. However, if it helps anyone else, then below is the letter I sent to them which hopefully will make them think again before they harass me further.
If anyone has any comments on the letter I wrote, then please feel free to reply. I have removed all personal references from the below letter.
Dear S. Watts:
Account Number: XXXXXXXXX
I have read, with interest, your letter of 20th March 2008. In particular, I have noted the serious and threatening tone of the letter which I find totally unnecessary, condescending and unprofessionally handled.
In response to your letter, I would like to make the following statements of fact:
1.In August 2007, I found myself unemployed for the very first time in my working life. Thus I no longer had an income which could be paid into the Alliance & Leicester account I held with you.
2.By September 2007, with no new employment on the horizon, I contacted Alliance & Leicester Customer Services BEFORE my account went over limit to inform of my unfortunate circumstances. The representative sympathised with my situation and downgraded my account from Premier Plus to the standard Premier account. I was also asked not to use the account further until monies were paid into the account and informed that all Direct Debits and Standing Orders from the account would be stopped. In compliance with those instructions, I have not once used the account since.
3.In March 2008, unfortunately I remain unemployed.
4.Since September 2007, not once have I used the account nor have I tried to withdraw funds from the account.
5.In the same period since September 2007, Alliance & Leicester have continued to process Direct Debits and Standing Orders from my account despite the assurances that these have all been suspended. I informed many of these organisations of the status of my account but it took some time for many of them to process the stopping of these requests. This has resulted in a chain reaction of ever increasing bank charges.
6.That the account is now £2425.85 overdrawn is due entirely to your grossly inflated charging system (which bear no resemblance to the true costs to the bank) and the fact that you continued to process Direct Debits and Standing Orders, despite stating that you would not. Therefore you have now charged me almost £2000 in charges despite knowing that I have no income to pay into the account with which to remedy the situation.
7.The last few letters I have received from you have beggared belief. Those letters either contained no telephone number on which to contact you, or when they have contained a telephone number, that I am unable to access it because due to your terminating my account I am unable to get past your security. Therefore, the telephone numbers supplied are completely useless to me.
8.I found it interesting, as I am sure will the Financial Ombudsman Service, that your last letter arrived in the post on the 22nd March 2008 (having been sent on the 20th March 2008) stating that I have seven days to remedy the situation or face action from your Debt Recovery Services. You surely knew that the 21st March 2008 was a Public (Bank) Holiday and therefore that I would not receive the letter until the 22nd March 2008 at the very earliest. You also surely knew that 24th March 2008 was also a Public (Bank) holiday and that I would be unable to respond to your letter until 25th March at the very earliest. Therefore, you sent the letter demanding action within seven days, KNOWING that in reality this meant that I had only TWO days in which to respond. As you have TERMINATED (your words, not mine) my account, I have no way of getting through your Security to actually speak to someone over the telephone. Neither am I able to access my account online for the same reason.
9.I currently have a total household income of just £750 per month (my wife’s wages) on which to feed 3 children, pay household bills (gas, electricity, water, council tax etc) and try to keep a roof over my head (a battle which I am losing). The Government and the DWP (in their wisdom) deem me ineligible for Child Tax Credits due to my earnings in 2006-2007. The same rule also applies to Working Tax Credit of which my wife is ineligible to claim. This means that we are currently living several levels below what the Government designates as the poverty line.
10.Given that our total household income is just £750 per month, would you kindly explain to me where I am supposed to find the £2425.85 that you believe I owe you (and which I dispute), especially in seven (two) days ?
11.Our financial matters have been handed over to a Debt Management Company called the XXXXXX XXXXX XXXXX. You can expect to be contacted by these people soon concerning our finances.
12.Since you appear to have decided to place our account in the hands of your Debt Recovery Section (which I assume means I will soon be contacted/threatened by a Debt Collection Agency) to begin legal proceedings against me, then you are now also legally obliged to provide me with a FULL breakdown of EVERY charge you have levied on my account, including the dates of those charges. Due to the timescales you are placing on me, I will expect that breakdown to be supplied to me within the next SEVEN days. If you do not, then I will hold you responsible for with-holding information, something which is illegal under the Data Protection Act. This is especially true with legal action pending as I have a right to all information with which to defend myself.
13.I, like many thousands of dis-satisfied UK banking customers AND the Office of Fair Trading, believe your inflated charges violate the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations. You will be aware that this is a subject currently being ratified through the High Court by the Office of Fair Trading with several leading high street banks. A decision is currently expected from Mr Justice Andrew Smith in July 2008. A decision I will be watching with interest.
14.Pending the outcome of the OFT Test Case in regard to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations (most learned opinion appears to be expecting a decision in favour of the OFT), your threatened action against me is leaving me with no choice other than to potentially file a counter-claim through the County Courts against you for the repayment of the unfair charges. As I am currently unemployed, then I am aware that it will not cost me anything to file such a claim through the County Court System. We also both know that all such current claims are subject to being STAYED pending the outcome of the OFT Test Case.
15.A copy of this correspondence will also be supplied to the Financial Ombudsman Service for their records so that they may record the unfair and derogatory way in which you treat customers in my position. It will also clearly demonstrate how you seek to blatantly profiteer from the misfortune of people who are in no financial position to be able to defend or rectify a situation.
I appreciate that the ‘credit crunch’ is having severe repercussions on financial organisations such as yourselves, but that does not give you the right to ride roughshod over your customers.
I had high hopes of the Alliance & Leicester to whom I transferred my current account banking back in June 2007. Unfortunately, I do not have a crystal ball and therefore cannot see into the future. Had I been able to do so, then maybe I could have foreseen being made unemployed. Maybe I would also have realised how appallingly poor the customer services of the Alliance & Leicester is and how they treat those in financial hardship with such disdain.
I have held a savings account with Alliance & Leicester for many years, since the time it was still a Building Society. This was part of the reason why I chose to transfer my current account to the Alliance & Leicester. I expected better. How wrong I was.
I will await your response of this matter and I am sure that the Financial Ombudsman Service will also have a view on the derogatory way you have treated me. In particular, I am sure they will be most interested to hear that you have been sending me threatening letters which contain telephone numbers that are of no use to me whatsoever.
Yours disgustedly,
Some here will know me from other areas of this site and will know that I have been fighting battles with several organisations since I became unemployed last August. Hopefully, I believe I have now secured a well-paid new role which will make things easier. Unfortunately, I am still quite a few weeks away from getting my first pay-packet even if I get the role. This means that I still have to deal with the Vultures that are circling and waiting for their chance to attack.
Lately, I have started receiving threats from Alliance & Leicester wanting to 'recover' the overdraft I have on that account. The letters they have sent me have all been of the nature whereby I cannot respond as they provided telephone numbers of which I could not get past their security due to them 'terminating' my account (though many letters did not even contain a telephone number at all). It culminated this week when they sent a 'final demand' for me to repay £2425.85.
This total is made up completely of bank charges due to my not having any income to pay into the account. When I first informed them that I was unemployed my account was still within the agreed limit. They sympathised at the time and even took some measures due to the circumstances ... or so I thought.
This latest letter threatened legal action if the debt was not repaid within 7 days - they sent the letter the day before Good Friday. With Good Friday and Bank Holiday Monday, the reality was that they had actually only given me two days to respond.
Given that they had backed me into a corner, my reaction in these situations is to always come out fighting. So, I have sent a strongly worded letter back to them AND copied the FOS with my response to Alliance & Leicester. At the end of the day, it may only serve to be a delaying tactic, but I will be damned if I am going to simply roll-over and comply to their wishes - especially as I dispute the level of the bank charges they have levied AND because those charges have come about as a result of their incompetence. Hopefully, my going on the offensive is the last thing they will be expecting and it will catch them somewhat off-guard.
I'll have to wait and see what response they come back with and what the FOS have to say about this matter. However, if it helps anyone else, then below is the letter I sent to them which hopefully will make them think again before they harass me further.
If anyone has any comments on the letter I wrote, then please feel free to reply. I have removed all personal references from the below letter.
Dear S. Watts:
Account Number: XXXXXXXXX
I have read, with interest, your letter of 20th March 2008. In particular, I have noted the serious and threatening tone of the letter which I find totally unnecessary, condescending and unprofessionally handled.
In response to your letter, I would like to make the following statements of fact:
1.In August 2007, I found myself unemployed for the very first time in my working life. Thus I no longer had an income which could be paid into the Alliance & Leicester account I held with you.
2.By September 2007, with no new employment on the horizon, I contacted Alliance & Leicester Customer Services BEFORE my account went over limit to inform of my unfortunate circumstances. The representative sympathised with my situation and downgraded my account from Premier Plus to the standard Premier account. I was also asked not to use the account further until monies were paid into the account and informed that all Direct Debits and Standing Orders from the account would be stopped. In compliance with those instructions, I have not once used the account since.
3.In March 2008, unfortunately I remain unemployed.
4.Since September 2007, not once have I used the account nor have I tried to withdraw funds from the account.
5.In the same period since September 2007, Alliance & Leicester have continued to process Direct Debits and Standing Orders from my account despite the assurances that these have all been suspended. I informed many of these organisations of the status of my account but it took some time for many of them to process the stopping of these requests. This has resulted in a chain reaction of ever increasing bank charges.
6.That the account is now £2425.85 overdrawn is due entirely to your grossly inflated charging system (which bear no resemblance to the true costs to the bank) and the fact that you continued to process Direct Debits and Standing Orders, despite stating that you would not. Therefore you have now charged me almost £2000 in charges despite knowing that I have no income to pay into the account with which to remedy the situation.
7.The last few letters I have received from you have beggared belief. Those letters either contained no telephone number on which to contact you, or when they have contained a telephone number, that I am unable to access it because due to your terminating my account I am unable to get past your security. Therefore, the telephone numbers supplied are completely useless to me.
8.I found it interesting, as I am sure will the Financial Ombudsman Service, that your last letter arrived in the post on the 22nd March 2008 (having been sent on the 20th March 2008) stating that I have seven days to remedy the situation or face action from your Debt Recovery Services. You surely knew that the 21st March 2008 was a Public (Bank) Holiday and therefore that I would not receive the letter until the 22nd March 2008 at the very earliest. You also surely knew that 24th March 2008 was also a Public (Bank) holiday and that I would be unable to respond to your letter until 25th March at the very earliest. Therefore, you sent the letter demanding action within seven days, KNOWING that in reality this meant that I had only TWO days in which to respond. As you have TERMINATED (your words, not mine) my account, I have no way of getting through your Security to actually speak to someone over the telephone. Neither am I able to access my account online for the same reason.
9.I currently have a total household income of just £750 per month (my wife’s wages) on which to feed 3 children, pay household bills (gas, electricity, water, council tax etc) and try to keep a roof over my head (a battle which I am losing). The Government and the DWP (in their wisdom) deem me ineligible for Child Tax Credits due to my earnings in 2006-2007. The same rule also applies to Working Tax Credit of which my wife is ineligible to claim. This means that we are currently living several levels below what the Government designates as the poverty line.
10.Given that our total household income is just £750 per month, would you kindly explain to me where I am supposed to find the £2425.85 that you believe I owe you (and which I dispute), especially in seven (two) days ?
11.Our financial matters have been handed over to a Debt Management Company called the XXXXXX XXXXX XXXXX. You can expect to be contacted by these people soon concerning our finances.
12.Since you appear to have decided to place our account in the hands of your Debt Recovery Section (which I assume means I will soon be contacted/threatened by a Debt Collection Agency) to begin legal proceedings against me, then you are now also legally obliged to provide me with a FULL breakdown of EVERY charge you have levied on my account, including the dates of those charges. Due to the timescales you are placing on me, I will expect that breakdown to be supplied to me within the next SEVEN days. If you do not, then I will hold you responsible for with-holding information, something which is illegal under the Data Protection Act. This is especially true with legal action pending as I have a right to all information with which to defend myself.
13.I, like many thousands of dis-satisfied UK banking customers AND the Office of Fair Trading, believe your inflated charges violate the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations. You will be aware that this is a subject currently being ratified through the High Court by the Office of Fair Trading with several leading high street banks. A decision is currently expected from Mr Justice Andrew Smith in July 2008. A decision I will be watching with interest.
14.Pending the outcome of the OFT Test Case in regard to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations (most learned opinion appears to be expecting a decision in favour of the OFT), your threatened action against me is leaving me with no choice other than to potentially file a counter-claim through the County Courts against you for the repayment of the unfair charges. As I am currently unemployed, then I am aware that it will not cost me anything to file such a claim through the County Court System. We also both know that all such current claims are subject to being STAYED pending the outcome of the OFT Test Case.
15.A copy of this correspondence will also be supplied to the Financial Ombudsman Service for their records so that they may record the unfair and derogatory way in which you treat customers in my position. It will also clearly demonstrate how you seek to blatantly profiteer from the misfortune of people who are in no financial position to be able to defend or rectify a situation.
I appreciate that the ‘credit crunch’ is having severe repercussions on financial organisations such as yourselves, but that does not give you the right to ride roughshod over your customers.
I had high hopes of the Alliance & Leicester to whom I transferred my current account banking back in June 2007. Unfortunately, I do not have a crystal ball and therefore cannot see into the future. Had I been able to do so, then maybe I could have foreseen being made unemployed. Maybe I would also have realised how appallingly poor the customer services of the Alliance & Leicester is and how they treat those in financial hardship with such disdain.
I have held a savings account with Alliance & Leicester for many years, since the time it was still a Building Society. This was part of the reason why I chose to transfer my current account to the Alliance & Leicester. I expected better. How wrong I was.
I will await your response of this matter and I am sure that the Financial Ombudsman Service will also have a view on the derogatory way you have treated me. In particular, I am sure they will be most interested to hear that you have been sending me threatening letters which contain telephone numbers that are of no use to me whatsoever.
Yours disgustedly,
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